


The Guy At The Rockshow

by walkingtr4vesty



Category: All Time Low
Genre: Blink-182 - Freeform, Coffee Shop, Concert, M/M, Starbucks, gig, mosh pit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-08 04:41:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkingtr4vesty/pseuds/walkingtr4vesty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"That was the scale Alex measured people on these days. Were they as cool to hang around with as Jack Barakat would be?"</p>
<p>In which Alex is fairly obsessed with Jack Barakat, and he experiences his first mosh pit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Guy At The Rockshow

**Author's Note:**

> Yay I'm back. Or not yay. Idk. Um, this is somewhat AU in that the band would have been started by now etc. but I've researched most things (like, uh, the whole goddamn setlist!). It's set roughly 2005 based on the fact that Alex and Rian are sixteen. Yeah. Enjoy! :) (there might maybe maybe maybe be a sequel to this but don't hold me to that!)

Alex first realised that he loved, or at least liked rather a lot, Jack at his first gig. He was sixteen; Jack was fifteen but only for a few more months, or so he’d realised later. You see, at the time, Alex didn’t exactly know Jack.

Like, at all.

He admired him, hell he secretly idolised him, and he was totally jealous of Jack’s carefree-to-the-point-of-reckless attitude, and yes Alex might have fantasised about running his hands through Jack’s skunk hair… more than once.

But Jack probably didn’t even know Alex’s name. And Alex was behaving a lot like a creepy stalker.

~~_And Jack probably wasn’t gay._ ~~

                Alex’s first gig was Blink-182. When they came to Baltimore, Maryland for the first time in, like, ever, it had been kind of a big deal. Alex had loved them ever since he’d lived in England as a kid, but of course they never toured across the pond when he was younger, and it wasn’t like his mom would take him anyway.

Since he’d moved to America, they might have toured once or twice in Baltimore, right back when he’d first got there, but he was still probably too young, and he didn’t have many friends at the time, if any, so he’d couldn’t go in with anyone, and he’d have looked pretty stupid on his own, if he’d even got in.

Alex’s mom wasn’t too keen on rock concerts anyway, and it had taken a lot to persuade her to go to his first Blink one, even though he was sixteen by then. He was going with Rian Dawson, his parents’ friends’ son. He liked Rian a lot, but, well he wasn’t Jack. That was the scale Alex measured people on these days. Were they as cool to hang around with as Jack Barakat would be?

                Alex had deliberated for hours over what he was gonna wear, right up until ten minutes before they left in fact. Black skinnies and grey hoodie with Blink top or grey skinnies and green hoodie with Blink top? And what shoes? Docs, All Stars, Vans?

“Hurry the hell up Alex!” Rian had called from outside Alex’s window. Rian’s mom was way cooler than Alex’s and therefore she’d offered to drive them there and pick them up. Rian was only four days younger than Alex, so he was also sixteen by that time. Sixteen and getting picked up from a Blink-182 gig? Well it could be worse, Alex supposed.

“I’m coming!” Alex yelled out of his window, before slamming it shut and pocketing his phone and his wallet, in the hope that they wouldn’t be stolen from him.

Well, if anyone could even get them out of the pockets of these impossibly skinny jeans. They made his ass look nice though, right?

As Alex was exiting his bedroom, a terrible thought struck him.

He wasn’t wearing a beanie. Alex Gaskarth never went anywhere without a beanie. But would it look stupid at a concert? Alex wasn’t sure. He didn’t understand concert dress code or etiquette. What was acceptable to wear/do?

“Alexander, hurry up!” his mom called. “The Dawson’s are waiting!”

Alex hurried. His mom only ever called him Alexander when he’d pushed her too far.

He jammed a beanie on his head, deciding that he’d try and be like Jack and not care what anyone thought of him, sprinted down the stairs and towards the door. It was beginning to dawn on him that he was going to his first concert.

_He was going to see Blink-182!_

“Not so fast Alex,” his mom said, appearing behind him. “You’re not leaving without a goodbye.”

He smiled ruefully. She might be kind of boring but he did love his mom.

“Behave,” she instructed. “Or this won’t happen again. Any trouble, phone us straight away. You’ve got your ticket?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

“Just checking,” she smiled. “Have fun, Alex. We’ll wait up.” She squeezed him into a hug then followed him to the door. Rian and his mom were waiting in their car outside.

“Thank you!” Alex’s mom called to Rian’s.

“No problem!” she called back, smiling. “See you later!”

Alex dived into the back seat of Rian’s mom’s car and clipped in his seatbelt, and they pulled out of Alex’s drive.

_Holy shit he was going to see Blink-182!_

                Two hours later, Blink’s crew were setting up on stage. Rian and Alex were very close to the front, and not wanting to lose their spot, Rian had gone to get two drinks while Alex held their places. He was having the best time. The two supports acts had been small bands that Alex hadn’t heard of, although Rian knew one of them, but Alex intended to look them up when he got home. They’d been good.

Alex still felt a little overwhelmed by all the people and the intimacy of a mosh pit, but he was beginning to realise that no one cared and if he was having a good time, that’s all that mattered. And there were kids in beanies, but it didn’t matter in the end because he’d taken his off finally, when he got too hot.

Alex came to the conclusion that Jack was living in his own mosh pit all the time, where he could do or say what he wanted because Jack already had the world figured out and Jack already knew that no one cared. And Alex wished he could do that.

The crowd was literally buzzing with excitement when suddenly Travis Barker was sitting behind the drums – when had he got there? Alex could have sworn that he’d been watching the stage the whole time – and Mark Hoppus and Tom Delonge could be heard playing at the sides of the stage. It wasn’t obvious what they were playing at first but suddenly the three of them launched into _Feeling This_ and the crowd went w i l d. Alex was being shoved from all angles and he was yelling loudly, and he didn’t know where Rian was which worried him, but he was totally absorbed in the music. Why had he never done this before? Live music was so much better than through headphones. Oh god… this was the best thing.

Within the first few seconds of _Feeling This_ Alex knew what he wanted to do forever. He wanted to make music and play it on stage and make kids as happy as he was right now. He was totally serious. That’s what Alex wanted to do for the rest of his life.

“HELLO BALTIMORE!” Mark Hoppus roared over the crowd. “IT’S GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!”

Alex cheered as loudly as everyone else. He felt… he felt part of something special. Surrounded by people he didn’t even know, but who lived in his town, who were here to see his favourite band, who were all wearing their Blink t-shirts. He felt like everyone around him was a friend, even though he didn’t know any of them. It was really weird, but super awesome at the same time.

Alex was still being jostled and shoved everywhere and although he was many enjoying it, it was maybe a little violent sometimes. Halfway through _What’s My Age Again?_ , one of Alex’s all time favourites, he was pushed particularly hard from behind, and he crashed down to the floor. He felt like he was drowning, he couldn’t get up, he couldn’t really see and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. Maybe it wasn’t so fun anymore. Maybe Alex sort of wanted to go home.

Suddenly, a strong, unfamiliar pair of hands yanked at his arm pits and pulled him up, before spinning him around and firmly pushing him towards the back of the room, where there were far less people and it was much darker.

‘It’s probably a rapist’ Alex thought miserably.

The strange hands finally released him, but seconds later they were forcing a plastic cup of water into his hands. And finally Alex looked up.

_“Jack Barakat?!”_

“The one and only,” Jack grinned, shouting slightly over the noise. He was wearing a _Home Alone_ t-shirt – who the fuck wears a _Home Alone_ t-shirt to a concert anyway? – and skinny jeans. He looked totally at ease there, and Alex assumed he went to a lot of gigs. “You’re that English kid aren’t you?”

Alex frowned slightly. Technically, yes he was ‘that English kid’, but he’d been here years now. Goddammit, he even had an American accent now!

“Er, yes, I guess I am,” he agreed. “How do you know me?”

“You play guitar,” Jack shrugged. “I make it my business to know everyone who plays guitar.”

Alex couldn’t help but laugh. Jack probably should have sounded stuck up, or plain weird, after that statement, but he didn’t. It was the sort of thing one expected to come out of Jack Barakat’s mouth, Alex supposed.

“What’re you doing here?”

“You kidding?! I fucking _love_ Blink-182!” Jack replied, slightly incredulously. Didn’t everyone know he loved Blink?

Alex was surprised. He thought he knew quite a lot about Jack Barakat, considering this was probably the first time he’d ever spoken to him, but clearly he’d missed this. “Er, yeah, me too,” he grinned nervously.

“You ready to go back in there?” Jack asked after a moment, jerking his head towards the mosh pit, which looked even more terrifying from behind.

Alex hesitated.

“I’ll protect you,” Jack grinned, grabbing Alex’s hand.

“Wait,” Alex said suddenly.

“Yeah?”

“What’re you doing after this?”

“Going home, I guess,” Jack replied, shrugging. “Why?”

“Um, what time do you have to be back?” Alex asked bravely.

“Whenever,” Jack replied indifferently. “My parents’ll be asleep. _Why?_ ”

Alex took a deep breath. “Do you… do you want to get a coffee when this finishes? I’ll pay.”

Jack grinned. “Yeah. I’d love to-”

“Alex,” Alex supplied helpfully.

“I’d love to Alex. Come on. Let’s go back in!”

Alex allowed Jack to drag him back into the crowd, just in time for _The Rock Show_.

“I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE GIRL AT THE ROCK SHOW. SHE SAID WHAT? AND I TOLD HER THAT I DIDN’T KNOW,” Alex and Jack were jumping and cheering and waving their arms around and Alex was in that happy place again, the one where no one cared and he felt like he wanted to do this forever.

It was a long setlist, but that was a good thing! It slowed down a little, soon after _The Rock Show_ , but sped up again around _All The Small Things_ , which was definitely Alex’s favourite Blink song, even beating _What’s My Age Again?_ marginally.

All too soon, they were running back on stage for the encore, which was _Stockholm Syndrome_ and _Dammit_ , and then suddenly the night was over, the lights came back on and people began to leave.

                Alex hadn’t seen Rian since he went to get those drinks, and now he was beginning to come down from the ultimate concert high, he was beginning to worry. He sort of forgot about Jack, and began to blindly push past people to find his friend.

Suddenly a slightly shorted sixteen year old bumped into him.

“Alex?”

“Rian, thank god,” he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Alex, my mom’s caught in traffic and she’s gonna be at least an hour late,” Rian said worriedly.

“Oh, um, what’re we gonna do?” Alex asked, biting his lip and forgetting about all his plans for the night. He felt small and lost now, and he was beginning to want to go home again.

“Well, uh, I made a friend,” Rian grinned proudly, and it was then that Alex noticed the tallish girl hanging off his arm. “Um, Alex, Cassadee, Cassadee, Alex,” Rian introduced them.

“Hey,” Alex grinned. She was pretty.

“Uh, me and Cass are gonna go to McDonalds,” Rian said nervously.

“Classy,” Alex winked.

“Do you wanna come and wait for my mom there?”

It was then that Alex remembered Jack, and slapped his hand to his forehead.

“Ah, shit!”

“What?”

“I made a friend too. And I left him… somewhere.”

Rian laughed.

Suddenly there was a hand around his waist and Alex was beginning to know these hands.

“I thought you forgot about me,” Jack pouted. “Baby,” he added, noticing Rian staring.

Alex laughed, albeit slightly nervously. He felt a bit more in control of the him-Jack situation now that the lights were on. After all, it had been Alex that invited Jack out for coffee.

“Uh, Ri, this is Jack. Jack, this is Rian and Cassadee.”

“Rian Dawson?”

“Yeah,” Rian nodded, looking thoughtful for a moment. “Jack Barakat?”

“The one and only,” Jack agreed for the second time that night.

“Ri, shall we meet out here in an hour and wait for your mom?”

Rian nodded. “Yeah. I won’t tell if you don’t.”

Alex smirked. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“See you in a bit, Alex.”

                “Um, where do you want to go?” Alex asked awkwardly, walking down the sidewalk with Jack, who, if anything, looked amused at Alex’s discomfort.

“I don’t mind,” Jack smiled easily. “You pick.”

“Er, ok,” Alex agreed, panicking internally. “Um, is Starbucks ok?”

“Starbucks is always ok,” Jack assured him. “You know, for future reference.”

Alex blushed slightly, but he was grinning. Jack Barakat was one smooth bastard.

Alex pushed the door open of the all-night Starbucks and went up to the counter to order their drinks. Jack had purposely picked a drink filled with extra cream and caramel and semi-skimmed milk instead of full fat etc. because he was pretty sure Alex liked him, and he wanted to test that theory. He himself couldn’t even remember what he’d ordered, but he wanted to see if Alex would get it for him. Plus embarrassing Alex was far more fun than embarrassing anyone else.

                Finally, a few minutes later, Alex set Jack’s tall drink in front of him and recited the order. “Grande, skinny cream caramel frappuccino, extra cream, two shots of caramel.”

Jack grinned broadly. This guy… this guy was a keeper.

Jack liked to judge people on whether they bought him the right coffee or not.

Alex sat down opposite Jack with his own coffee to keep him awake. It was past eleven now, although it was warming up and it didn’t seem so late with all the city lights on outside.

“So, um, what’s your favourite Blink song?” Alex asked eventually. He felt like it was _his_ job to keep the conversation flowing because _he’d_ invited Jack out.

“Dammit,” Jack replied without hesitation. “I’m learning to play it on guitar. You?”

“All The Small Things,” Alex replied. “I’m not learning to play it on guitar.”

“Hey, I can teach you,” Jack offered suddenly.

Alex met his eyes properly for the first time. “What?”

“I can teach you All The Small Things. I can teach you a bunch of stuff on guitar if you want.”

Alex bit his lip, not wanting to sound too eager. “That would be awesome,” he agreed finally, and Jack chuckled at his evident internal battle.

“Just come round any time.”

“Er, can I - can I have your number?” Alex asked nervously. “So I can, you know, forewarn you of my visits…”

Jack slid his phone across the table, and after a moment of wriggling his own out of his pocket – he was right. No one could have possibly mugged him – Alex entered Jack’s number into his phone, as ‘Jack Barakat – the one and only’.

“Text me so I’ve got yours,” Jack suggested, and Alex nodded, beginning to type some long, heartfelt message about friendship, relationships and thanks, before realising it sounded stupid, deleting it and replacing it with ‘Hey asshole. Guess who.’

“Charming,” Jack laughed, saving Alex’s number to his own phone, and Alex grinned.

“So what other bands do you like?” Alex asked eventually, eager to get back onto the subject of music.

“Um, Jimmy Eat World, Set Your Goals, Green Day – obviously,” he replied, ticking them off on his fingers. “Uh, Fall Out Boy, New Found Glory -”

“Shit, I _love_ New Found Glory!” Alex replied, sounding more animated than he had the whole evening.

“Seriously?! You’re cool, dude.”

“I know,” Alex agreed, smirking. “I guess you’re alright too.”

“Thanks,” Jack replied sarcastically. “Hey… you wanna hang out sometime?”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed, toning down the arrogance a little. “That’d be cool.”

“Awesome,” Jack grinned. “Wait – you never told me your full name.”

Alex coughed, as if announcing something important, and adopted his old English accent. “Alexander William Gaskarth.”

“Shit, you’re posh,” Jack laughed. “I like your English accent.”

Alex frowned slightly. “I don’t.” He gave no further explanation, so Jack didn’t question him.

“I’m Jack Bassam Barakat,” Jack offered a moment later. “I’m Lebanese.”

“Hey, that’s cool!” Alex exclaimed. “I bet Lebanon’s way cooler than England.”

“Bet it’s not,” Jack replied childishly.

“Bet it is,” Alex retorted, sticking his tongue out, and suddenly they both cracked up, mainly because they were both insanely weird.

“Was that your first gig?” Jack asked suddenly, breaking a comfortable silence in which Alex finished his coffee.

“Yeah, could you tell?” Alex grinned ruefully.

Jack laughed. “Nah, not much. Everyone gets trampled in a mosh pit.”

“It wasn’t yours, was it?” Alex asked.

Jack nodded, surprising Alex to no end. “It was.”

“What?! But you, like, you knew what you were doing man!”

“Yeah,” Jack shrugged. “I, well, you know, you were knocked over so I just thought I should help you up. Moshers law,” Jack grinned.

“Well, thanks,” Alex grinned back. He looked up at the clock. “Oh shit, it’s midnight. I said I’d meet Rian now.”

“I’m done,” Jack replied indifferently. “We can go.”

“Thanks,” Alex smiled gratefully. “Um, how are you getting home?”

“Bus, I guess,” Jack shrugged.

“Mrs. D’ll give you a lift?” Alex suggested. “Where do you live?”

“Way out of town.”

“You wanna crash at mine then?”

“No, seriously, it’s fine Alex. Thanks for offering. I’ll walk back to the venue with you and make my way home from there.”

“Sure?”

“Positive,” Jack grinned.

               The walk back was considerably colder, seeing as it was past midnight now. Jack didn’t even have a hoodie with him, just his _Home Alone_ t-shirt – which Alex had forgotten to ask about. He was curious – and his skinny jeans.

“Aren’t you cold, you crazy motherfucker?” Alex asked.

“Nah,” Jack shrugged. “Motherfucker.”

Alex laughed. He could see the venue approaching again, and he knew that it’d be time to say goodbye to Jack soon. He was kind of sad now. He didn’t want this night to ever end. Ever.

There was so much more he wanted to know about Jack. And he was sure as hell going to see him again – was tomorrow too soon? – but it wouldn’t be the same. Tonight he was invincible. Tomorrow he’d just be Alex.

“I had a really good night,” Jack said eventually, as they reached Rian.

“Me too,” Alex agreed, fiddling with a loose thread on his t-shirt, avoiding meeting Jack’s eyes. “Thanks for saving me.”

“Any time, dude,” Jack laughed. “Well, I’ll see you around I guess Alex?”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed again, still not looking up. Suddenly Jack’s lips brushed across his cheek, and he was gone.

Alex blinked, pinched himself on the arm, possibly to check he wasn’t dreaming but mainly just to keep him awake, and walked over to Rian whose eyes were wide.

“Did he just – am I – woah dude!”

Alex managed a small grin.

“You ok Alex?” Rian asked.

Alex nodded. “I – yeah. Don’t worry. Um, how was your night?”

“It was awesome!” Rian grinned, his eyes shining. “Cass is really cool!”

“Great,” Alex forced out. He was genuinely happy for his friend.

“Hey Alex, are you sure your ok?”

Alex hesitated a moment before answering. “Yeah. I just… I don’t feel invincible anymore,” he whispered. 

**Author's Note:**

> Someone commented on the other story which featured a gig saying that I'd handled it really well (thank you again!). I haven't handled this one as well purely because I'm not quite such a big Blink-182 fan as i am an ATL fan, and I've been to an ATL gig so I was basically recounting that (and fucking with the POV and throwing it back about four years. But yeah.) and I haven't seen Blink live and I just couldn't be bothered to check them out on youtube or anything because I am lazy, so I just didn't have half as much to go on. So I'm sorry that this gig is far less detailed than the last one :3


End file.
